The NSTAR MIT Clean Energy Prize is the nation's largest student run energy entrepreneurship competition. This year, the CEP will award over $400,000 in prizes to cutting-edge startups from universities across the US. The CEP accepts applications from student entrepreneurs in three tracks: Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, and Infrastructure and Resources.

All CEP participants are paired with legal, entrepreneurial, and technical mentors. Furthermore, CEP participants gain access to the MIT entrepreneurship resources through the CEP Syllabus program. Winners of each track receive $35,000 in equity-free funding. In addition to the three track winners, a grand prize of $275,000 is awarded by NSTAR and the US Department of Energy.

The CEP prepares tomorrow's clean energy leaders by advancing their relationships with academic, finance, industry, and government players to help them meet the world's pressing energy challenges. Entrepreneurs must file a brief application online by February 8th, 2015 to be considered for the Prize.

On February 27th-28th 2015, leaders from energy industry, government and the scientific community will align on actions we can take today to address the world’s growing energy challenges. We will explore ways by which technological development, novel policy, and finance innovation enable the disruption of legacy value chains and convergence of global economies.

The conference events include high profile keynote addresses including Thomas Siebel, CEO of C3 Energy and panel discussions. The panel topics this year are as follows:

Power and renewables

Distributed energy, information technology, and the future of the utility

Dynamics of driving clean energy adoption, deployment, and financing

Unleashing the potential of energy efficiency improvements

Fossils and transportation

Strategic implications of the US shale revolution for energy and transportation

Adapting policies to the shifting 21st century oil and gas landscape

Energy in a global context

Urbanization and the future of energy infrastructure design

Infrastructure finance and the opportunities of privatization

Designing energy innovation for affordability and the global consumer

Science and innovation

Nuclear power safety and the promise of energy abundance

Funding moonshots and fostering global collaboration in energy research